I Believed We Would Win!

Sadly, the poor Internets has made my attempt to provide a full multi-media recap of our past two days impossible.

Man, I have pictures, videos and more that I'm super anxious to post to show you how awesome (and trying at times) the Natal stop on this World Cup journey has been. 

Where to begin?

After we (with our two new friends from the States) spent hours at Shopping Natal waiting for the stores to open and searching for some foul weather gear, the rain did let up in time for the pre-match festivities and the game itself. Funny how that works. We did find the last four rain ponchos in the city, which is why the rain stopped. 

Thanks to Maura's negotiation skills, we had a driver to take us to the U.S. Soccer pre-match party at "Peppers Arena" (a makeshift and temporary venue sandwiched between car dealerships), to Arena das Dunas for the game and then back to our hotel after an anticipated victory. 

The pre-match party was cool. We had screens everywhere to witness the German thrashing of CR7's Portugal, "enjoyed" some pricey cans of Budweiser beer and a Brazilian version of bad American pizza. Just after the end of the GERvPOR match, family members of the Yanks arrived to have their own pre-match meal and fun before boarding their buses for the stadium. We got to chat with a few of them, including Jozy's older brother (who is a nearly a twin with that same signature smile) and Fabian Johnson's sibling. We saw a quick game of "kick the ball and run around" being played by the future USMNT players made up of the offspring of Dempsey, Jones, Bradley and others. The cherry on top of this awesome sundae was free U.S. Soccer scarves handed out just as we left ourselves. A nice souvenir. 

Our driver took us over to the stadium area where we met up with about a "million" American Outlaws (the famed USA supporters group). I wish I could upload the video of the packed open air pizzeria and the none stop chants. I'll fix that once we get some good wireless again!

We did our own "march to the match", walking the mile from the AO pre-func to our seats in the Arena das Dunas. People were cheering and chanting the whole way and lots of good natured taunting between fans of all the teams, not just the USA and Ghana. 

I won't recap the game, but I will say what an emotional roller coaster of the Emerald City's own Clint Dempsey scoring the opening goal in 32 seconds, followed by the injuries to he and Jozy. Then the nail biting of watching the USA getting pounded by the Ghanian attack with so little possession of their own, the late goal by Ghana and then John Brooks stunning game winning header in the closing minutes that took place in the goal closest to our seats. 

Wow! 

That's all I can say. 

And, the rain returned just as we exited as victors. Funny, eh?

Today is our last full day in Natal, and the rain is back. We'll catch a few quick sights before finding a dry location to watch the Brazil-Mexico match. 

Oh, and I need to rest my voice as I think I lost it somewhere in Section 220 last night. Let me know if you find it!

It's Always Sunny In Natal...

...except when we have the World Cup in town. 

Early morning departure from Congonhas airport en route to Natal

After a long day of travel from São Paulo (via Brasilia), we arrived at the brand spanking new Natal airport...only to spend the next hour getting our rental car. I honestly believe securing our home mortgage was easier and less time consuming than what it took to get this stinkin' Renault. 

Next step: drive to our hotel...through the pouring rain and a GPS free of any of the new built roads. When in Rome...er...the North East of Brazil. 

Sadly, this beautiful beach town is experiencing some of the worst rain in long time. As this ProSoccerTalk article notes, the over 36 hours of rain is really taking its toll on the city and the pitch.

The "not so" blue skies over Natal wouldn't dampen our World Cup spirits

At least we found some cool bars along the beach to watch a few matches, enjoy some local grub and beers, and marvel in the crazy surfers trying to take advantage of the huge waves.

Today, we're sheltering at a Natal shopping mall to get some reliable Wi-Fi, some new foul weather gear and hang with a couple of new friends (USA supporters, of course!) we made at the hotel. 

While the weather conditions haven't lived up to expectations for our first stop, the friendliness of the supporters from all the other teams has been amazing. We met a dude who flew in from Ghana while boarding our connection in Brasilia. We both felt the pressure and importance for our respective nations to beat the other in the match here tomorrow, but left each other with a warm smile and good luck handshake. 

We also hung out with lots of Mexico, Aussies, and even a few local supporters while watching the matches yesterday. Everyone is truly enjoying the games and there is no evidence of issues or politics. While FIFA has its well publicized problems, what these games do for the fans of the World's Game is super positive. 

Time to go buy a better poncho!

The Day After Opening Day

Wow. What a rush it was to experience the kick off of the world's game's biggest event--the FIFA World Cup Finals--in the very city that the opening match took place!

Yesterday was a day filled with anticipation by all involved, especially the fans and teams from Brazil and Croatia. A late morning walk along Avenida Paulo VI (known locally as Sumaré) provided a great view into the pre-match build up of excitement and host nation pride in their Seleção.

This guy was out quite early, armed with Brazil flags and a number of vuvuzela like horns (even though vuvuzelas have been banned for the 2014 tournament).

As the day continued, more flags, horns, firecrackers and fans made their way to the streets. At least 1 out of every 10 cars had some form of the Bandeira do Brasil. It even got challenging to conduct meetings from my remote location, as both the noise from the streets and the flakey Internet connectivity made for some interesting conditions on my Lync calls.

Things hit a crescendo shortly after the mediocre opening ceremonies which took place about 2 hours before the kickoff. No offense to Pitbull or J.Lo, or the lovely representations of the wide cultural diversity from across the beautiful land of Brazil, but folks were more interested in seeing some football! (Queue the association football and non-racist version of Hank Williams, "Are You Ready for Some Football?!?")

We watched the match from the comfort of our São Paulo base of operation, complete with a healthy spread of treats and tasty caipirinhas. The match got off to an inauspicious start thanks to Marcelo's horrid own goal in the 11th minute. I'd be lying if I said spirits weren't low, bordering on worried until Brazil's jewel Neymar netted an equalizer 18 minutes later. I don't need to recap the match's storyline, which included some questionable calls that leaned mostly in the host nation's favor. Instead, here's a peek at what happened in the streets near our viewing party after Brazil's 3-1 victory.

About 15 minutes following the final whistle and a little bit of clean-up, we headed out to experience the celebrations along the bar area of Vila Madalena (a nearby neighborhood). The police had cordoned off several blocks to allow for outdoor viewing of the match and consumption of adult beverages. The party continued until late in the evening.

Everyone was good natured and while it was no small task to navigate through all the masses of humanity gathered, we didn't feel unsafe for one minute. We were even able to score a table at Bar Genésio where we ate some Brazilian pizza and chopp (Brazilian draft beer).

Bar Genesio late evening after Match #1

After our late snack, we headed back out into the sea of celebrating humanity to make our way back home. The experience was fantastic and has served as a great personal kick off for our own World Cup adventures.

Celebrating Brazil's victory in the streets of Vila Madalena

Bright and early tomorrow morning, we head out to Natal to start the process of following the USA in the Group Stage. Stay tuned!

World Cup Security and Staging for the "copas das Copas"

Last night before we headed out for a late dinner at a tasty local restaurant, the evening news broadcast showing on the living room T.V. was interrupted for a televised address from Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff. Thanks to the closed captions, my rudimentary Portuguese and help from my in-laws, it was clear this speech aired the evening two days prior to the opening ceremonies was meant to rally the nation to support the Copa do Mundo with the same passion and gusto Brasileiros have supported their Seleção to a record five World Cup wins over the tournament's 85 year history.

As you've may have noted from the coverage of the ramp up to the World Cup, the host nation has suffered both protests and strikes, raising issue with the level of investment made in building stadiums over investment in the needs of the citizens. Dilma's speech was aimed solely at addressing this criticism and as this post to ProSoccerTalk sums up nicely, "urged [citizens] to support the World Cup."

While I have no designs on commenting on who's right or wrong here, this NBC News Infographic did catch my attention. Sourced from the government's own facts and figures, it details the amount of money being spent on just the security for the 31 visiting national teams and the expected 3.7 million tourists coming to witness the games first-hand (like me).

Infographic: Security for 2014 Brazil World Cup

As a "citizen-in-law" to Brazil, I do hope the growing divide between the rich and poor sees improvement over these coming years. As an outside-ish observer, you hope with both the 2014 FIFA World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio bringing the world's attention to Brazil, this will motivate the government to take the right action. Just like Justice Louis Brandeis has been credited to have said, "Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants."

Our short discussion on this topic over dinner last night (which included linguiça, bolinho de carne seca com arroz, and carne seca), my wife did comment that the level of excitement was much lower than she's experience with past World Cups. That the streets, while adorn with Brazilian flags, are not as decorated as she expected. Maybe once the games get started, and memories of Brazil's successes in the World Cup warm-up during the 2013 Confederation Cup are rekindled, enthusiasm will be at expected levels in São Paulo and across the nation.

I'll keep you posted, especially as we travel to other host cities.

In the meantime, I think it's time to dip into the leftovers from last night's feast before my Seattle time zone meetings get started for the day.

UPDATE: Just finished watching this "funny as all hell" yet also sad commentary by the "funny as all hell" John Oliver and thought it somewhat apropos to this post:

   

A Slow News Day

Heading to Brazil for the World Cup Finals isn't all Brazucas, caxirolas and caipirinhas. We've also had a few other items on the agenda ahead of the opening match on Thursday.

The nerve, right?

Since arriving, we've spent some time getting acclimated, logging time with family and I've been working remotely.

Boy, do I have new found respect for folks who work remotely.

After spending 8 hours on Monday--4 times zones ahead of everyone else--participating in an offsite over Lync, I can truly appreciate the impact of a good remote meeting experience. Fortunately, Lync performed like a champ and my colleagues up north were kind to my situation.

Today has been more of the same, sans the marathon meeting. At least my "remote home office" view is a bit more interesting than the normal Microsoft parking lot outside my office on the Redmond campus.

SãoPauloPano

As you can see, the weather is very Pacific Northwest like to make sure I don't get too home sick or distracted by local atmosphere. At least the forecast for Thursday shows sunshine and a good chance of WCF (World Cup Fever).

To keep with the whole "World Cup theme" in the absence of something more exciting to share from my own first-hand experience, here's my bracket for the Finals:

2014 FIFA World Cup Bracket - Vai Brasil!

Some bold predictions, I suspect you'll say. Yup, I have the USA snag the two spot in the "Group of Death!" and meet our cold war pals Russia in the Round of 16. And, I guess I'm being a homer picking Brazil to prevail over the defending champs in the final match.

What the hell, right?

It's WCF time and I've got me some...on a slow news day.

Back to work.

We Made It!

Well, we did it!

São Paulo–Guarulhos International Airport

It only took about 24 hours of travel hustle and bustle, but we made it to São Paulo!

Nos estamos no Brasil pra Copa Do Mundo #FIFAWorldCup http://t.co/3Sxyp8F18W

— Ian Hameroff (@hameroff) June 8, 2014

Our journey wasn't all airline food and air turbulence, we also had the opportunity to watch the tail end of the USA vs. Nigeria match from the airline lounge during our layover, and even checked in on the Sounders slugfest with the Chicago Fire before we had to switch off our electronics to depart on the 10 hour slog down to GRU.

Sadly, the longest part of the 24 hours may have been the nearly one hour spent on the tarmac waiting for somebody to let us park at a gate after we landed.

As with other visits to Brazil, we gathered our seemingly hundreds of suitcases (okay, it was just 5 checked bags this time), made a quick pit stop at the duty free before being welcomed by our patiently awaiting family in the arrivals area. Bags were loaded into cars and we headed to the city for some brunch and a power nap.

Luckily on the drive from the airport, I was able to grab a quick picture of some dude dressed up as Spider-Man who "worked" an intersection in the city.

São Paulo Spider-Man

He immediately stepped out into the roadway when the traffic light turned red, waved a whole bunch at the stopped cars and (I guess) waited for a small cash donation. Not surprising, his "Spidey-sense" failed him, as no one appeared interested in playing along.

Anyhow, the city of São Paulo is in full World Cup fever mode.

It was interesting to see the newly installed bi-lingual road signs complete with the 2014 FIFA World Cup Finals look and feel. And, you could clearly see that there was way more security on the stretch of road just outside of the airport. Maura believes that this was mostly due to the fact that one of the teams is staying near the airport to train at a nearby facility. According to the "Internets", that might be Team Iran.

The streets in and around our base of operations in São Paulo were fully decorated with TONS of Brazilian gear.

World Cup Fever starts to show its colors in the streets of São Paulo

I'm sure this is just the tip of the iceberg, as I cannot wait to experience the WCF (a/k/a "World Cup Fever") on Thursday when the host nation kicks this sucker off with the opening match against Croatia here in São Paulo.

Between now and then, I've got to unpack, put in a few full days in the (remote) office and get my USA and Brazil gear readied for the next 30+ days of the world's game.

In the meantime, it's time to crush this jet lag and get some rest before I...ZZZzzzzzzzzzzz

Where in the world...er Brazil...are you going?

Map of 2014 FIFA World Cup Host Cities (Source: FIFA)

Thanks to a recent Tweet from the "fine folks" at FIFA, I can share with you a "colorful map" of the host cities for the World Cup. I've marked up the key places we'll be visiting during our time in Brazil.

From our base of operations in São Paulo, we'll be traveling up to the Amazon and the north east of Brazil to support "The Yanks" as they do battle against Ghana, Portugal and Germany in three of the twelve host cities for the tournament: Natal, Manaus and Recife.

Even though it's technically winter (well, actually winter), these places are expected to be hot and humid. What else would one expect when traveling to the word's largest rain forest and beach cities close to the equator!

We've got lots of shorts and sun block to keep us as comfortable as possible. We'll keep you posted.

Boa viagem para o Brasil!

It's truly hard to believe it, but the day has finally arrived!

After marking our calendars years in advanced.

After planning and securing travel arrangements.

After early morning attempts to grab tickets via the mad dash lottery.

After cramming everything possible into a handful of suitcases.

After finally getting match tickets for the U.S. Men's National Team's group stage campaign.

After weeks of hard work to get things buttoned up at the office.

After cramming even more stuff into suitcases.

After selecting just the right gear to represent the U.S.A. and Brasil.

And, after trying to teach Maura all of the American Outlaws chants.

After all of that, we are finally heading to Brazil for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Finals!

The "Stars and Stripes" and "Seleção Brasileira" shirts are ready for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Finals

We are off on a crazy, once in a life adventure to witness the world's game on its biggest stage. To share with my wife and her family the national passion and pride that comes with hosting the finals on their own soil for the first time in 64 years. To have the opportunity to watch what I've only witnessed on T.V., a World Cup match, in person. To (hopefully) support the Yanks through to the knockout stage and to celebrate with millions of Brasileiros as their (our) Seleção, their Canarinhos open the 30 days of football championship battles to win the prize of joining the small fraternity of eight nations that have won the coveted trophy in this nearly 85 years old tournament.

The long and the short of it: it's going to be f-ing amazing!

I hope to share the experience through pictures and blog posts, and I do hope you'll tag along. Maybe you'll even lose your voice screaming at the T.V. like I plan to at a match, after our own Seattle Sounders FC Clint "Captain American" Dempsey puts one between the pipes for a game winning goal. (NOTE: I'd be happy if any of the 23 USMNT have this opportunity...I'm not picky).

Wish us luck and boa viagem!